To say this man’s music inspired me at a very young age would be an understatement. You see, I had a guitar teacher that wanted to expand my mind beyond the 4/4 time of rock and blues. So, he handed me the sheet music to a tune that intrigued my ears, challenged my fingers and turned my very soul upside down.
My teenage mind reacted as you’d probably expect. 5/4? What the hell? Counting to 5? Who does that? The Dave Brubeck Quartet. That’s who. And their myriad of odd time signatures and tonal exploration made them the first million-selling Jazz band in history.
‘Take Five’ and other pieces on the album ‘Time Out’ did more than push me to question my sense of rhythm and my methods of playing music. With track after track exploring different directions in time and harmony, it opened me up to new ways of understanding how music can be complex and simple at the same time. How it can make total sense and be utterly chaotic at the same time. I learned that limiting myself to any pigeonhole in music or in life was simply not an option.
Or maybe it’s just made great music. Maybe it wasn’t that deep for everyone. But it was for me. And it will always be a shining point of light in my own personal musical history.
RIP Mr. Brubeck. You will be missed, sir.
Here is ‘Take Five’ performed live by the Dave Brubeck Quartet in Belgium (1964).
